My first book, Writing for Nursing Publications, advises would-be authors to write what they know. While that book focused on developing non-fiction articles for nursing professionals, that advice holds true for all types of written work. Using your own experiences, sensations, and emotions enhances the authenticity of your writing and brings your words to life.
Here’s an example: In Chapter 9 of Woodson Falls: 16 Lakeview Terrace, Gaby’s car is sideswiped on her way home from the Prescott police station. That scene was drawn from my own experience of being sideswiped by a white van. Although it happened years ago, I can still feel the thump and hear the screech of metal-on-metal when that speeding van hit the driver’s side of my car. I drew on my memory of that incident to create a credible scene. Anyone who’s been sideswiped could relate to it. And while I wasn’t pushed into a guardrail like Gaby was, the damage to my car did make it difficult to squirm out of the driver-side door, just as Gaby did.
Using your own experiences makes it easier to “show” the reader what’s going on rather than “telling” them, another key rule for writers. How does that cup of hot cocoa feel in your hands? How does it smell? Can you smell the chocolate as the steam rises to caress your face? Checking in with your five senses is one of the simplest ways to convert writing that “tells” to writing that “shows.”
Tapping into your emotions is another way to write authentically. The feelings of despair that Gaby felt after her husband’s violent death, expressed in her memory of not caring whether she lived or died as she lay in a hospital bed recovering from her own wounds, mirrored my own in the early days following my own husband’s death as I lay in bed recovering from ankle replacement surgery.
Every writer has a rich bank of experiences to draw upon. Explore yours to bring your own writing to the next level.